Compliance [2012]

Some movies just sneak up on you, and they’re so good that no matter when or where you watch them you will be amazed and overwhelmed. Especially when those movies are so well directed and feature a talented cast, led by Ann Dowd. Her acting in this movie was beyond perfection, as she expertly led the rest of the actors on this intense and nerve-wrecking journey. Also sometimes, when it says that a movie is based on true events, it actually is fucking based on true events, and to make things worse (or better) those events were a bit toned down in the movie. Talk about a setup for a movie, fuck me. Don’t worry, slight alterations made in the movie are relatively small, so they will not change the intensity of Compliance.

It all starts as any other usual day at your average fast food joint, workers are swamped with orders and the whole place is quite chaotic. The manager, Sandra is trying to keep it all together, but then the phone rings. She answers it. On the other side is a police officers accusing one her workers of theft and asking her to detain her until the police car arrives…

This is all you need to know before watching this movie, this and a warning that it’s quite an intense and almost traumatic experience. Now I would like to address the prevailing complaint regarding Compliance, and that is why I should watch bunch of stupid people get abused, it serves them right and this could never happen to me, their stupidity just annoys me… Well first of all, it is not their fault that they are so gullible and with relatively poor judgment, still they do not deserve this. Second, this really happened, this terrible tragedy and no matter what the reasons for it were, the pain and the consequences are there, especially for the employees of the McDonald’s and the company itself. Finally, if the circumstances were right, this or some other version of Compliance, might happen to you, so it would be wise to check it out. Think of it as a new experience, seen through the eyes and minds of some other people. Remember, question everything and trust no one…